TEHRAN: Iranian natural gas began flowing to Turkey again on Saturday after a damaged pipeline linking the two countries was repaired, the Iranian oil ministry news website SHANA reported. "Officially the reason for the cut in gas transfer was said to be due to technical difficulties, but naturally everyone knows about the explosion at the pipeline in Turkey," Valiollah Dini, an oil ministry official, was quoted as saying. Iran suspended its gas exports after an explosion in eastern Turkey on July 21 damaged the pipeline which provides around a third of Turkey's gas needs. Dini said the average flow of gas through the pipeline stood at around 25 million cubic metres a day. Iran exports some 10 billion cubic metres of gas to Turkey per year and planned to increase that, he said. Iran sits on the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia but sanctions imposed on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme have hampered it from becoming a major exporter.
